Help with low efficiency

[goswell]

I just tested my new MLT tonight and the efficiency was much lower than I expected. This was the first time I used the new cooler so it was just a test, no boil.

I ended up with a temp adjusted gravity of 1.057 in 4 gallons of wort which is an efficiency of 61%. Here are the specifics:

MLT - 36 qt Coleman extreme cooler, SS Braid.
Grist: 10 lb American 2 Row ( from Midwest and milled by them as well)
Mash Thickness: 1.25/pound
Mash Temp: 152
Mash Time: 60 min
Heat loss for 60 min: 1 degree

Strike Water: 12.5 qt
Mash Out Water: .25 qt
Sparge Water: 8.5 qt

First Running: 1.80 gallons
Second Runnings: 2.2 gallons

 

[Bobby_M]

You blew 10 pounds of grain and dumped out the wort? Madness I say.

I think you meant .25 gallons or 1qt mashout right?

What temperature was the mash out infusion? What temp was your sparge water? How long did you stir after your mashout and sparge infusions?

 

[aekdbbop]

You blew 10 pounds of grain and dumped out the wort? Madness I say.

I think you meant .25 gallons or 1qt mashout right?

What temperature was the mash out infusion? What temp was your sparge water? How long did you stir after your mashout and sparge infusions?

that is crazy.. why the waste? make some GD beer!

 

[Dark_Ale]

I am not sure if you ran enough water through it.......
Batch sparge?

 

[tentacles]

10lbs couldn't have given you a very deep grain bed, I wonder if that had an effect?

 

[WBC]

How did you come up with the strike temp and sparge volume ( program ? )?

Why no boil, you had the work half done? It was potential beer???

 

[Dark_Ale]

For 10LBS of grain I would have used
13qts strike water
2 additional gallons after mash....or 8 qts
I would have lost 6.5qts.....
13+8=21qts - 6.5qts = 14.5qts first runnings 0r 3gal + 2.5 qts

22qts would be 5.5gal.... So I would need an additonal 7.5qts to give me 5.5gallons....
I used 28.5 qts of water to brew this batch he used 23.5qts if
You used .25 qts per pound of grain to mash out?
I think you just left allot of fermentables that could have been captured.
Good Luck!

 

[mykayel]

Have you had good efficiency before? Buying my own grain mill is what solved my problem. I went from right around 60% to 78% on the one batch I've done with my new grain mill, I did everything else the same.

 

[carls47807]

awfully wasteful, i don't think it deserves my reply.

 

[terrapinbrewer]

Have you had good efficiency before? Buying my own grain mill is what solved my problem. I went from right around 60% to 78% on the one batch I've done with my new grain mill, I did everything else the same.

yikes! which grain mill would that be? im sure it beats my wine bottle to death!

 

[carls47807]

smedling? 2 adjustable rollers?

they rock.

 

[Cookiebaggs]

Best way to increase your efficiency is not to throw away perfectly good wort.

 

[carls47807]

i know right?

how much could they REALLY care about effeciency.

it's not just a number. HB's care about effeciency because we feel guilty not extracting as much possible sugar from perfectly kilned grains before we compost the spents (i hope you composted them).

and you went and put it down the drain.

 

[FlyingHorse]

I'd guess a combination of things (all mentioned by others):

1) Not enough water sparged/collected to extarct all the sugars. For a 10# grain bill, I'll get 80-85% efficiency, but I need to collect 6.5-7 gallons of wort to do it. I imagine if I collected 4 gallons, my efficiency would be south of 70%.

2) Grain bed too cool. A quart of (even boiling) water at mashout wouldn't have raised your temp above 155. Nowhere near what you need for a mashout, or to maximize extraction. You should be shooting for something north of 165F. Then, unless you used boiling water for your sparge, you still probably never got your grain bed warm enough. 180F sparge water would get you into the low 160s. Again, not enough.

3) Timing issues mentioned by Bobby_M

4) Crush. I don;t have experience with crushed grain from MW, but the reported efficiency increase going from any HBS crush to your own is almost universal around here

 

[carls47807]

i never thought about the effects of mashing out and effeciency. i thought it was just to keep the sugar profile.

your making the sugars more soluble in the wort? I never mash out properly maybe thats why my eff. sucks (~65%).